Patna High Court
Sunil Kumar Singh And Ors vs The Union Of India And Ors on 28 February, 2025
Author: Rajeev Ranjan Prasad
Bench: Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, Partha Sarthy
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
Miscellaneous Jurisdiction Case No.685 of 2018
In
Civil Writ Jurisdiction Case No.12126 of 2017
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1. Sunil Kumar Singh Son of Trivijay Prasad Singh, Working as D.R.M. under
the Administrative Control of the Principal General Manager, Telecom
District Patna, Namely Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Patna, Bihar
2. Bipin Kumar Singh Son of Ram Janam Singh, Working as D.R.M. under the
Administrative Control of the Principal General Manager, Telecom District
Patna, Namely Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Patna, Bihar
3. Braj Kishore Ram Son of Shiv Lal Ram, Working as D.R.M. under the
Administrative Control of the Principal General Manager, Telecom District
Patna, Namely Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Patna, Bihar
4. Mahendra Prasad Son of Dhanpat Sao, Working as D.R.M. under the
Administrative Control of the Principal General Manager, Telecom District
Patna, Namely Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Patna, Bihar
5. Nagendra Paswan Son of Sudarshan Paswan, Working as D.R.M. under the
Administrative Control of the Principal General Manager, Telecom District
Patna, Namely Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Patna, Bihar
6. Sri Niwas Kumar Son of Shital Prasad, Working as D.R.M. under the
Administrative Control of the Principal General Manager, Telecom District
Patna, Namely Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Patna, Bihar
7. Smt. Niru Devi Wife of Late Jhakhari Singh, Working as D.R.M. under the
Administrative Control of the Principal General Manager, Telecom District
Patna, Namely Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Patna, Bihar
8. Deep Narayan Singh Son of Jai Narayan Singh, Working as D.R.M. under
the Administrative Control of the Principal General Manager, Telecom
District Patna, Namely Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Patna, Bihar
9. Raj Kumar Mehta Son of Ramashish Mahto, Working as D.R.M. under the
Administrative Control of the Principal General Manager, Telecom District
Patna, Namely Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Patna, Bihar
10. Ramjee Ram Son of Arjun Ram, Working as D.R.M. under the
Administrative Control of the Principal General Manager, Telecom District
Patna, Namely Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Patna, Bihar
... ... Petitioners
Versus
1. The Union of India
2. Sri Anupam Srivastava Son of name not known to the Petitioner, at Present
Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Limited
(Hereinafter referred to as BSNL) Corporate Office, Bharat Sanchar
Bhawan, Janpath, New Delhi
3. Sri Girish Chandra Srivastava Son of name not Known to the Petitioners, at
Present Chairman and Managing Director, Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Limited
(Hereinafter referred to as BSNL) Corporate Office, Bharat Sanchar
Bhawan, Janpath, New Delhi
Patna High Court MJC No.685 of 2018 dt.28-02-2025
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4. Sri Satyanand Rajhansh Son of name not known to the Petitioners, at Present
Principal General Manager, Telecom District-Patna B.S.N.L. Patna, Bihar
5. Sri Anil Patel, Son of Name not Known to the Petitioner, at Present Deputy
General Manager (Admn. O/O Chief General Manager, Telecom Bihar
Circle, B.S.N.L., Patna, Bihar
6. Sri S.C. Vidyarthi, Son of name not Known to the Petitioners, at Present
Assistant General Manager (Admn.) O/o Chief General Manager Telecom
Bihar Circle, B.S.N.L., Patna, Bihar
7. Sri Kush Kumar Son of Name not Known to the Petitioners, at Present Dy.
General Manager (Admn.) O/o Principal General Manager Telecom District
Patna B.S.N.L., Patna, Bihar
8. Sri Vijay Kumar Son of Name not Known to the Petitioners, at Present Chief
Accounts Officer O/o Principal General Manager, Telecom District Patna
B.S.N.L., Patna Bihar
9. Sri Ganesh Kumar Son of Name not Known to the Petitioners, at Present
Senior Accounts Officer, O/o Principal General Manager, Telecom, District-
Patna, B.S.N.L., Patna Bihar
... ... Opposite Parties
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Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Rajendra Narayan, Sr. Advocate
Mr. Kripanand Jha, Advocate
For the Opposite Party/s : Mr. Basant Kumar Choudhary, Sr. Advocate
Mr. Ashok Kumar Dubey, Advocate
Mr. Upendra Kumar Singh, Advocate
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CORAM: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJEEV RANJAN PRASAD
and
HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PARTHA SARTHY
ORAL JUDGMENT
(Per: HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE RAJEEV RANJAN PRASAD)
Date : 28-02-2025
I. A. No. 7 of 2025
This is an interlocutory application filed on behalf of
Mr. Ravindra Kumar Choudhary, at present the Chief General
Manager Telecom, Bihar Circle, Patna seeking modification of
the order dated 07.02.2025 passed in the present case.
2. In the kind of order, we propose to pass at this
stage, no order need be passed on this application.
Patna High Court MJC No.685 of 2018 dt.28-02-2025
3/6
MJC No. 685 of 2018
3. Mr. Ravindra Kumar Choudhary has also filed a
show-cause dated 19.02.2025. Paragraph '5' of the show-cause
reads as under :-
"5. That it is respectfully submitted
that the department considering the overall
direction of the Hon'ble Court, decided to
regularize the petitioners with effect from the date
on which they were converted to Full Time Casual
Labourer i.e. 07.01.2004 and gave them the
benefits of the same w.e.f. 07.01.2004 instead of
13.11.2017
extending the benefits of scheme as
directed by the Hon'ble Court in the order under
contempt and finally to that extent, the order
ST/PTD/FTCL to RM/2019/Part/02 dated
15.02.2025 issued under signature of Assistant
General Manager (Admin), O/o the Principal
General Manager, Patna Business Area (opposite
party no. 4) and has been communicated to the
petitioners of this contempt petition."
4. Mr. Basant Kumar Choudhary, learned Senior
Counsel representing the alleged contemnors would submit that
by issuing the Notification No. ST/PTD/FTCL to
RM/2019/Part/02 dated 15.02.2025, which has been brought on
record with the show-cause, the contempt has already been
purged and the judgment of this Court passed in CWJC No.
12126 of 2017 on 13.11.2017 stands fully complied with.
Patna High Court MJC No.685 of 2018 dt.28-02-2025
5. Mr. Rajendra Narayan, learned Senior Counsel for
the petitioners has contested the submissions of Mr. Basant
Kumar Choudhary, learned Senior Counsel. It is his submission
that the regularisation scheme was issued on 29.09.2000
(Annexure-5) and if it is read with the regularisation order dated
09.10.2003 (Annexure-6) by which several juniors to these
petitioners were regularised, it may be found that the petitioners'
pay would be liable to be fixed notionally from 01.10.2000 with
financial benefit from 08.07.2003.
6. We have heard learned Senior Counsel for the
parties and have gone through the judgment dated 13.11.2017
passed by this Court in CWJC No. 12126 of 2017. On perusal of
the judgment, we find that the premises under which the
judgment was passed by this Court is contained in Paragraph '7'
of the judgment. We reproduce Paragraph '7' hereunder for a
ready reference :-
"7. We are justified in observing as
above because certain past developments cannot
be overlooked and wished away. It is the BSNL
authorities themselves who as far back as on
17th March, 2004 issued a notification giving the
petitioners full time casual labourer status with
effect from 07.01.2004. This notification has
been brought on record as Annexure-7 to the writ
application. Once such a status has been
Patna High Court MJC No.685 of 2018 dt.28-02-2025
conferred and acquired by the petitioners by a
conscious decision of the respondent BSNL
authorities and that notification still stands and
finds mention even in the recommendation made
by the Deputy General Manager (Admn.) himself
in a communication dated 09.05.2013 addressed
to the Chief General Manager (Telecom), Bihar
Circle, Patna it cannot be ignored. This
communication is Annexure-12 to the writ
application. If Annexure-7 and Annexure-12 are
put together then rationale and reasoning
provided by the Deputy General Manager
(Admn.) for rejection of the claim of the
petitioners seems to be contradictory on the face
of the impugned decision contained in Annexure-
15, which was subject matter of challenge before
the Tribunal."
7. A bare perusal of the discussions made in Paragraph
'7' of the judgment of this Court would show that this Court
considered the notification dated 17th March, 2004 by which the
petitioners were given full-time casual labourer status with
effect from 07.01.2004. This Court expressed its view that once
such a status has been conferred and acquired by petitioners by
a conscious decision of the respondent BSNL authorities, the
BSNL authorities cannot ignore the same.
8. At this stage, we find that the BSNL authorities
have granted the benefits under the judgment of this Court to the
Patna High Court MJC No.685 of 2018 dt.28-02-2025
petitioners with effect from 07.01.2004.
9. Mr. Rajendra Narayan, learned Senior Counsel
though made efforts to take us behind the 17th March, 2004
notification, we are of the considered opinion that in the
contempt jurisdiction, it would be too far to delve into such
issues.
10. The judgment of this Court is taken as complied
with.
11. This contempt application is dropped.
12. All Interlocutory applications stand disposed of.
(Rajeev Ranjan Prasad, J)
(Partha Sarthy, J)
Avinash/-
Sushma
AFR/NAFR
CAV DATE
Uploading Date 03.03.2025
Transmission Date
